Armando Ozuna
Hi, I'm Armando Ozuna, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and founder of Veritas Mindful Acceptance, a bilingual (English/Spanish) private practice based in Bakersfield, California. I work primarily through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, drawing on CBT, Motivational Interviewing, DBT-informed skills, mindfulness, and trauma-informed, polyvagal-aware approaches to help clients build a more workable relationship with their thoughts and feelings.
First session
We will work together to identify what you want to change and what matters most to you. We will establish meaningful goals, develop practical strategies, and regularly assess your progress. Your feedback helps guide our work and allows us to adjust our approach when needed.
Strengths
Bilingual, trauma-informed, and grounded in acceptance rather than judgment — I meet clients where they are, blending evidence-based structure with warmth and flexibility.
Ideal clients
Bilingual or Spanish-speaking individuals 18 and above, and families in the Central Valley navigating anxiety, life transitions, relationship stress, or substance use — including clients dealing with severe substance use, where I bring significant experience. Many are first- or second-generation clients balancing cultural expectations with their own sense of identity, looking for practical, values-based tools rather than just talk therapy.
Treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) is the foundation of my work with clients. Rather than trying to eliminate difficult thoughts and feelings, I help clients build a different relationship with them — one where painful emotions, intrusive thoughts, or old patterns don't have to control their choices. In sessions, this looks like practicing psychological flexibility skills: noticing and creating distance from unhelpful thoughts (cognitive de-fusion), staying present rather than getting pulled into worry or rumination, accepting discomfort instead of avoiding it, and clarifying what truly matters to the client so their actions align with their values rather than with fear or old habits. I also draw on CBT, Motivational Interviewing, DBT-informed skills, mindfulness, and trauma-informed/polyvagal-informed approaches to support the ACT work, tailoring the mix to what each client needs.
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational Interviewing plays a central role in my work with clients navigating substance use, where ambivalence about change is often at the heart of the struggle. Rather than pushing clients toward change, I help them explore their own reasons for it — reflecting back what I hear, asking questions that surface their own motivation, and meeting clients wherever they are in their readiness to change, without judgment. This pairs naturally with my experience in severe substance use work and with my ACT-based approach more broadly: MI helps build the motivation and openness to engage in change, while ACT provides the skills to follow through in a values-aligned way, even when it's uncomfortable.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I integrate CBT alongside my primary ACT-based approach, particularly when clients benefit from identifying and examining the specific thought patterns driving their distress. This looks like helping clients notice automatic thoughts, understand the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and evaluate whether unhelpful thinking patterns are serving them. Rather than using CBT in isolation, I typically weave it together with ACT — using CBT's structure for identifying thought patterns, then applying ACT skills like de-fusion and values-based action to change how clients relate to those thoughts, rather than only trying to change the thoughts themselves.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
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Licensed in
- CaliforniaLicense 147212